Tuesday, May 3, 2016

The following report from Times of India shows how difficult it is for consumers/customers to even expect fairness from such a "reputed" company belonging to the most respected business names in India. Not only Tata Motors did not take any action against its dealer but went on to fight a legal battle for 10 years with one of its own customer, who had just wanted to get a car which he had paid for (nothing more). Here is the full report.AHMEDABAD: A consumer court has pulled up Tata Motors Ltd and its city-based dealer Cargo Motors Pvt Ltd and fined them for fraudulently selling an used car to a customer as new.

While Tata Motors was held vicariously liable and asked to pay Rs1lakh to the customer, the dealer has been directed to return the price of the vehicle, Rs4.80 lakh, along with Rs60,000 towards compensation for harassment and litigation costs.In this case, Bhavnagar's Prashant Vyas purchased a Tata Indigo car in October 2006 from Cargo Motors outlet on SG Road. Within two months, Vyas found multiple problems in the vehicle and it was not starting at all. A local mechanic informed him that the car was a second-hand vehicle. He later found out that the car had been sold first to one Deepak Shah in May 2006.

Vyas filed a complaint with a local consumer forum, which ordered Cargo Motors and Tata Motors, together, to return the car's price to the customer apart from compensation and litigation costs. Tata Motors's appeal against this order was dismissed by Gujarat Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission with a fine of Rs 5,000.When Tata Motors challeng ed the lower courts' decisions, the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC) said that Tata Motors may not have been aware of the sale, but it was strange that the company was changing the engine of a vehicle on one hand and, on the other hand, claimed not to know for which vehicle the engine was being replaced."They (Tata) did not make an inquiry from the dealer as to why the dealer sold the vehicle for the second time. They did not take any action against the dealer.His agency was never cancelled. It is thus clear that the dealer and Tata Motors Ltd were working in cahoots with each other," the court order reads.The court further observed, "The action of both the parties is below the belt. They made an attempt to lead a gullible customer up the garden path. The consumer swallowed the bait and drove the car to such an extent without knowing it is a second-hand car."http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Tata-Motors-Cargo-Motors-fined-for-selling-new-used-car/articleshow/52101516.cms

Saturday, March 19, 2016

The government on Friday, March 18, 2016, reduced interest
rates on small savings schemes across the board, viz., Public Provident Fund,
Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, MIP, NSC, KVP.
The rates on small savings schemes have been reduced to align them to
market rates.

The government has now decided on revising interest rates
on small saving schemes every quarter, the new rates, therefore, will be
applicable from April 1 to June 30.

Terming the decision slashing of interest rates as a
“normal exercise of resetting” rates in March every year, Economic Affairs
Secretary Shaktikanta Das said, according to a report. “This will enable banks to consequently
reduce their deposit rates and extend loan and credit to public and borrowers
at lower rates.”

In its February 16 statement, the finance ministry had
said: “The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme and the
Monthly Income Scheme are savings schemes based on laudable social development
or social security goals. Hence, the interest rate and spread that these
schemes enjoy over the G-sec rate of comparable maturity viz., of 75 bps, 100
bps and 25 bps respectively have been left untouched by the Government.” On Friday, however, the rates on these 3
schemes were reduced by 60-70 basis points along with all other small saving
schemes.

RBI has cut the repo rate by 125 basis points since January
2015, but the banks reduced their lending rate by only about 70 basis points. Bank’s arguments were that if they lowered
their rates further, they would lose deposits to small saving schemes. This move by the government is seen to
facilitate banks to further lower their deposit rates and subsequently the
lending rates to help kick start economic activity.

The RBI is slated to review its monetary policy on April 4
and financial market expects another 25-50 BP rate cut from the RBI in the calendar
year 2016.

Monday, March 14, 2016

The
Health Ministry Government of India recently banned as many as 344 fixed drug
combination through a gazette notification in the weekend. Fixed drug
combinations are regularly launched in the market by the pharmaceutical
companies in order to gain market share and dodge DPCO.

With this ban order among the
listed companies, Abbott India (makers of Phensedyl syrup)and Pfizer India(makers
of Corex)will take a big hit
in both topline and bottomline. Here is
the complete list of the banned combinations: